Experiences with small electric motorcycles, Vespas, etc

In My Humble Opinion
1

Interested in any and all stories, anecdotes, tales cautionary or laudatory. However, specifically looking for operator stories, not passenger stories. Though I would welcome passenger stories specifically about buying safety gear, or riding with a pet.

Interested especially in these things:

Charging, range and speed, and how easy it is to shop for something street-worthy. It is nearly impossible for me to get anywhere without taking small stretches of state highways, the bypass, or a couple of exits of I-69. I wouldn’t be riding at rush hour, but I’d still need the thing to get up to 55mph, and 65 would be better.

Are there helmets specifically for these kinds of vehicles, or are motorcycle helmets de rigueur? would a bicycle helmet be pretty much worthless?

Are leather jackets mostly fashion, or do you really need the protection? is there a good substitute? I’m a vegetarian who does not wear leather, and frankly, it’s less of a moral conviction than he fact that the small of it makes me sick.

Put this under IMHO, because I want opinions to the extent that people have them, but want non-opinion info too. Didn’t choose another space, because I don’t need cites, and this isn’t entirely mundane.

2

To do it legally for those speeds you are looking at big money.
Electric motorcycles are not there yet from a value for money standpoint and you sound like you are not a mcycle rider already.

This will do all you want if you have the funds and willing to learn to ride.

Realistically I’d recommend a 300 cc ICE used motorcycle or 200cc scooter for $2500-$4000.

Take a riding course.

3

Anything electric that is road legal will limit you to 20-30 mph and not be highway legal. For now they are urban machines.

Forget leather jackets and yeah you need safety gear. Buy a new helmet that fits and used jacket, riding pants boots and gloves.
Enjoy.

4

I actually had a moped a very long time ago, but I found that I preferred just plain old riding a bicycle better.

Not for nothing, but I lived in Bloomington, Indiana in most of my 20s and 30s. That’s the city that holds the Little 500 bicycle race, and where Breaking Away was filmed. It’s about the bikingest-friendly city there is. I biked about 100 miles a week in the winter, and 200 in the summer.

I’m 58, and wish I could go back to biking all the time, but I don’t think it’s happening.

I need a way to get out of a car, though, for reasons I’d rather not go into.

But my Nissan Leaf is in great condition-- the “150 mile battery” still charges 180 miles on a warn night. It’s had the regular maintenance an electric car needs. I’m sure I could sell it for enough to pay of what is left on the loan, and still have money to spend on a bike, as well as riding lessons, which is a really good idea. Albeit, in Indiana, getting learner’s permit when you already have a driver’s license is a cakewalk. I managed it before when I had a lot less driving experience.

I have several reasons for not wanting an Ice-mobile, from pollution to noise.

5

Would my Army-issue Gor-Tex boots work?

6

Keep the Leaf for longer trips and bad weather.
Get an eBike…they are very mature and don’t need a mcycle licence.

If you don’t want ICE mcycle that’s your only choice

I’ve been riding for 60 years, still am at 77.
Would love a capable electric motorcycle but they flat out are not there yet unless you have a lot of money.

Yes your boots would be fine.

7

E-bicycles are great. As long as you can get where you need to go traveling at ~25 mph on zero highways. And ideally zero boulevards, just slow low-traffic streets with wide shoulders.

The next notch upwards that handles highways are genuine motorcycles, E- or otherwise. But for cheap purchase price, it’s ICE, not E.

All the scooters / Vespas / etc., are NOT highway legal. Doesn’t mean you won’t see fools riding them there in the shoulder with occasional swerves into the rightmost lane while slow-lane traffic passes them at 20-50 mph. Until they get killed by a semi-truck in the next year-ish. Suicidal morons.

As to protective gear …

All that matters is speed of you and speed of other vehicles you’re sharing the road with.

Ideally nobody would exceed about 15mph except in full motorcycle road-rider regalia. All else lesser is taking a chance. How lucky do you feel? Says the guy who rides an e-bicycle in a bathing suit and bicycle helmet at 25mph on 35mph roads with shoulders but 45mph+ traffic.

8

So, e-bikes are essentially what we used to call mopeds? you can use the e-motor, or pedal? I’m assuming they are pretty heavy, as far as bikes go-- my current bike I can lift with my smallest finger-- so not easy to pedal.

Anyone own one?

9

Hmm. I used to get to well over 15mph on a Schwinn, in sneakers and shorts-- no protective gear other than a bicycle helmet

10

In terms of functionality they’re akin to mopeds, but even less capable. Top speed 20-25mph, not great acceleration, top-heavy like a bicycle, not bottom heavy like a Vespa. But at least with large diameter wheels are less likely to get hung up in smaller potholes like motor scooters do.

You can pedal them, but most are heavy and awkward. The older one I have is a fat-tired mountain bike design and weighs about 70#. Between the high drag tires and the weight, it’s a right bitch to pedal unassisted. Mine is about the worst case though; there are more road-style e-bikes with better, lighter, lower drag everything.

You can operate them where you pedal unassisted, where you pedal and the electric motor takes some / most of the load but you are still working. Or you can use it like a wimpy electric motorcycle, where the pedals are just places to put your feet and the motor does 100% of the work.


Me too. Back in the day we didn’t even have helmets, them not yet being invented.

Falling, or getting knocked off, a conventional bicycle, an e-bicycle, a motor scooter, or a motorcycle are all the same experience once you contact the pavement, an obstacle, or another vehicle. The only difference is the max speed you might have that happen at. Once you allow for the case of being hit by a car, the max speed of your two-wheeler isn’t the only factor to consider.

The real bicycle enthusiasts here can probably talk to how often they crash or get crashed. And how much damage their body takes from an e.g. 25mph spill. I personally haven’t crashed a bike in decades.

But I’m not looking forward to my first spill where pavement meets skin doing 20+mph protected by at most a thin layer of cloth, not the heavy leather and/or rigid plastic armor many motorcyclists wear, and that all motorcyclists should be wearing.

As their saying has it: ATGATT All The Gear All The Time.